Factionalism and Political Parties

Domestically, the presidency of Monroe (1817-1825) was termed the
"era of good feelings." In one sense, this term disguised a period of
vigorous factional and regional conflict; on the other hand, the
phrase acknowledged the political triumph of the Republican Party
over the Federalist Party, which collapsed as a national force.

The decline of the Federalists brought disarray to the system of
choosing presidents. At the time, state legislatures could
nominate candidates. In 1824 Tennessee and Pennsylvania chose Andrew
Jackson, with South Carolina Senator John C. Calhoun as his running mate.
Kentucky selected Speaker of the House Henry Clay; Massachusetts,
Secretary of State John Quincy Adams; and a congressional caucus,
Treasury Secretary William Crawford.

Personality and sectional allegiance played important roles in
determining the outcome of the election. Adams won the electoral
votes from New England and most of New York; Clay won Kentucky, Ohio
and Missouri; Jackson won the Southeast, Illinois, Indiana, the
Carolinas, Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey; and Crawford won Virginia,
Georgia and Delaware. No candidate gained a majority in the
Electoral College, so, according to the provisions of the Constitution, the
election was thrown into the House of Representatives, where Clay
was the most influential figure. He supported Adams, who gained the
presidency.

During Adams's administration, new party alignments appeared. Adams's followers took the name of "National Republicans," later to be changed to "Whigs." Though he governed honestly and efficiently, Adams
was not a popular president, and his administration was marked with
frustrations. Adams failed in his effort to institute a national
system of roads and canals. His years in office appeared to be
one long campaign for reelection, and his coldly intellectual
temperament did not win friends. Jackson, by contrast, had enormous popular
appeal, especially among his followers in the newly named
Democratic Party that emerged from the Republican Party, with its roots
dating back to presidents Jefferson, Madison and Monroe. In the election
of 1828, Jackson defeated Adams by an overwhelming electoral
majority.

Jackson -- Tennessee politician, Indian fighter and hero of the
Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812 -- drew his support from
the small farmers of the West, and the workers, artisans and small
merchants of the East, who sought to use their vote to resist the
rising commercial and manufacturing interests associated with the
Industrial Revolution.

The election of 1828 was a significant benchmark in the trend
toward broader voter participation. Vermont had universal male suffrage
from its entry into the Union and Tennessee permitted suffrage for the
vast majority of taxpayers. New Jersey, Maryland and South Carolina
all abolished property and tax-paying requirements between 1807 and
1810. States entering the Union after 1815 either had universal white
male suffrage or a low taxpaying requirement. From 1815 to 1821,
Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York abolished all property
requirements. In 1824 members of the Electoral College were still
selected by six state legislatures. By 1828 presidential electors
were chosen by popular vote in every state but Delaware and South
Carolina. Nothing dramatized this democratic sentiment more than the
election of the flamboyant Andrew Jackson.